A group of Burmese pro-democracy activists arrested on Monday in front of the Burmese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur are to be charged next week for illegal assembly.

"All those arrested will be charged next week under the Section 27(5) of the Police Act for illegal assembly," Inspector Cheah Chee Seng told malaysiakini today.

According to the section, all public demonstrations must obtain a licence from the police.

Cheah confirmed that those arrested had been remanded for 10 days and added that he would be meeting with officers from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today to discuss the status of the detainees.

Most of the detainees are Burmese living in Malaysia while seeking political asylum in a third country.

Cheah also said that the seven-year-old daughter of the sole female protestor, journalist Sein Mar, was being detained with her mother at the Jalan Travers police station.

When asked about the status of the child, he added that she could be placed under the custody of the UNHCR.

Cheah also corrected press reports on the number of those arrested. He said that the total number was 23.

Separate detention centres

When the protesters were arrested on Monday, they were initially brought to the Pudu police station before being taken to the Cheras police district headquarters for further questioning.

They are now being held in separate detention centres - some at the Pudu police station, the rest at the criminal detention centre at the old Pudu jail.

The group, which comprised activists from the Democratic Federation of Burma and the National League for Democracy, had protested against a national convention organised by their country's ruling military junta to discuss the formation of new constitution.

The military leaders had said that the national convention was an important first step towards democratic transition, as part of its 'road map to democracy' proposed last year.

However, the convention has been dismissed by pro-democracy activists - both within Burma and overseas - as a sham that it was merely a rubber stamp for amendments the junta would make to the constitution to enable them to remain in power.

Leading Burmese opposition party NLD has boycotted the talks as their top leaders, Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, are still being held under house arrest.

The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990 that has never been recognised by the Burmese military government.